As the epicenter of America’s COVID-19 pandemic moves to places like Alabama, there are rising concerns about what’s in store for football programs as players pack up for a return to campus.
At least five players for the Crimson Tide have already tested positive for coronavirus after returning to campus this week, Simone Eli of CBS 42 in Birmingham reported.
And not only did those five test positive — many more are at risk and could be subjected to quarantine. As many as 50 players gathered together on the band field Wednesday.
On June 4, Alabama reported its highest day of recorded cases, 746, since the CDC began tracking the virus back in February. The state has had a total of 18,766 cases so far.
The Crimson Tide — and the rest of the SEC — are eligible to begin voluntary workouts on June 8, but as Eli pointed out, the players who tested positive were on campus on their own.
The SEC’s new guidelines for student athletes require that all players, upon arrival to campus, must be screened within 72 hours. They can’t enter any program facilities until they have been tested.
Alabama joins Oklahoma State and Iowa State in the ranks of prominent D1 programs wrestling with COVID-19 outbreaks.